The Hope of a Life
by CarelessWhispers13
Summary: In the past five years, six individuals have drifted away. Away from each other, and towards six very differant lives. When Sora calls his five friends back together to help him, they will discover that they have all lost hope in everything but one thing, and that is each other. Together, they will help one another through each hardship. Rion, RokuNami, SoKai.
1. Prologue

**I seriously have to get better at not writing two chapters of a story with a ton of enthusiasm and then having to delete it because I ran out of steam. This is my story that I vow not to erase, even if everyone on the face of the planet hates it. (Oh God, I think I've just jinxed myself) Ah well, I know someone out there will enjoy this, so please, dear reader, enjoy!**

**Disclaimer: I don't own Kingdom Hearts**

* * *

The six of them sat at a round table in the back of the pizza pub in absolute silence. Although it sounded like a party was going on around them, that one circle of individuals was stone silent. The red haired female kept taking sips of her ice tea, hoping it would keep the tears at bay. The petite blonde girl to her left was staring forlornly down at her hands, folded tightly in her lap. She blinked several times a minute. The raven haired woman sat with her arms crossed and her jaw clenched, determined not to show a single sign of emotions. The silver haired man seated across from her displayed a similar show of no emotions. Although he clutched his glass of soda tightly, as if he wanted to break it. The shorter blond man was zoned out, glaring intently at a napkin holder in front of him. The only one showing the least bit of emotions was the brunette boy, who let his eyes become misty and allowed his voice to quiver when he'd bid his goodbye moments before.

It was the summer in between high school and college, and tonight was their last night together before the brunette would leave for college in a different city. The blonde girl was studying art on the other side of the Destiny Islands. The raven haired girl was going to a small college in Twilight Town. The blond boy was taking a year to travel. The silver haired man was going to Radiant Gardens on an acting gig. The red head was staying here, and was going to go to a community college. The Brunette would go to a business college in Radiant Gardens. They were all moving in separate directions, and they felt it. They knew that once they left that table that they all would be pushed and pulled different direction, away from one another and towards a new life. The problem with that was they didn't want their new lives to start yet.

The brunette cleared his throat and glanced around the table, waiting for someone else to speak. When it was clear that no one else would, he spoke up, "I suppose we'll see each other again, it's not like we'll never be together again, right?" Even as he said it he knew that nobody was really listening to him. The blonde girl spoke up in her tiny soprano voice, "Not like this. We'll never be together quite like this again." The red headed girl put her face in her hands and started to sob softly. The brunette reached out to her and placed a hand on her back in a comforting gesture. The two blondes glanced at each other and traded sad smiles. The blonde boy reached out and hugged the blonde girl. She embraced his touch and allowed a tear to fall from her thick eyelashes. The silver haired man placed a hand on the brunette's shoulder and glanced around the table, savoring the look at his friends. The raven haired girl clenched her jaw even tighter and looked away as the few tears that managed to escape from her eyes rolled down her pale cheeks.

The six individuals at that table knew that from that moment on, they were no longer children, they were adults. And being an adult meant handling these things carefully. The dinner didn't last longer than thirty minutes after that. The brunette waited until everyone else had left the table, and he laid his head in his hands. He considered everything that he'd done in the past few months, from the moment he received his acceptance letter into that college until this very night, he pondered every moment. He wondered if he'd done enough in those last few times they had all gotten together. He came to the conclusion that he had done everything right, and that this was an inevitable part of becoming an adult-losing some of the people he cared about most. He cringed and regretted all the times he'd wished to be an adult as a child. Being an adult wasn't worth this. But it was done now; tomorrow he would be in Radiant Gardens, settling into a dorm with a stranger.

The man slowly exited the Pub and wandered to his car. He clung to the one thing that he'd said that night that had offered him any sort of hope. Perhaps they would all see each other again in the future; maybe everything wasn't lost after all. He prayed and hoped with all his might that the six of them would meet again. That would be the thing that would get him through college, he decided. The thought of his friends would keep him working hard, waiting for the day when he'd see them again. For a moment, he even believed it, but only for a moment.

_**Five Years Later**_

Sora finished signing his name and smiled at the pretty woman behind the counter. He was, essentially, bargaining his whole life for this move. But he had begun to not value his current state of life very much. It was an endless parade of money and material riches. This plan that he had would, if successful, expand his business to the growing suburb of Twilight Town and the remaining islands in the Destiny Island strip. Sora would need at least four new managers of these locations, and he'd promised the only two men of higher importance than himself, Ansem and Mickey, that he would have five managers by the end of the month, in roughly three weeks. It was a gamble, for if he failed his company would begin to slip and financially lose quite a bit. It was a far stretch, but Sora had faith in his friends, even if he didn't know the exact locations of all of his friends. He still had belief in each and every one of them.

_**Kairi**_

She preferred it when people referred to her as an 'exotic dancer'. It sounded more respectable. At least more respectable than the alternative name. During the past five years she had completed a year and a half of community college and been recruited by a local club after they witnessed her performing a dance routine during the half time of her community college's basketball game. Even though she wouldn't admit it to anyone, she both loved and hated her job. She loved the feeling of being wanted, even if it was just for a moment, on stage, she loved the attention she got, as she was normally the crowd favorite. But she hated the reason _why_ those people liked and wanted her. She hated the fact that so many men shouted out to her on stage because she was sexy. She wanted to be loved for more than her body, and she feared that she would never gain that respect from anyone. But even so, she still carried with her a small glimmer of hope that she always kept in the back of her mind. A hope given to her by her best friend.

_**Roxas**_

He carried himself with confidence. He appeared to everyone around him that he was completely assured of himself and was capable of any task set before him. He'd barely made it through three years of college, only staying in because he could run in track there. After his travel year he could never get himself to focus on anything. That is, he couldn't focus on anything outside of the explicit activities he indulged in every weekend. He had acquired the alcohol easily, and the rest just seemed to fall into his lap, the parties, the blacked out nights where he would wake up feeling completely empty, the girls he's begun to see as just countless, blurred faces. He knew very well that he'd get too old for this life eventually, but until then, he was content with working two jobs and living paycheck to paycheck. He didn't know how long his job would last or how much longer he would continue to live the way he did, but one thing way certain: Roxas was empty inside.

_**Naminé**_

After Naminé had finished her four years of college with nothing more than a minor in education, for she loved children, especially the younger ones, she had found herself a small house, a dog, and a job assisting a first grade teacher. She found her work fulfilling enough; she had an enjoyable job, a dog to keep her company on particularly lonely days, and a house she adored. But the girl was terribly lonely, and longed for human interaction, but try as she may, she could not find another soul to connect with her the way her friends from high school once had. She hadn't had a date in two years and the only man she would take on a date with her wasn't coming back. She'd given up looking for him around the time she stopped dating altogether. So instead of making memories, the dear girl sat by her fireplace or on her porch each evening and daydreamed of a life much grander than her own. Some nights she even caught herself believing in that dream. And she never could quite shake that small sliver of hope that held onto her every night she thought about giving up on her life altogether.

_**Riku**_

He prided himself with the fact that he could coax any available girl into letting him be their escort. His friends had bet on it, and he had won, of course. That was one of the perks to being an escort. He could sell whatever act he wanted his customers to buy, and he could do it well. Even though he'd been kicked out of acting school didn't mean he wasn't any good. He knew he was one of the best, even if his occasional bad decisions got in the way of people seeing that sometimes. His job got him by just fine in the small apartment he kept in order, and he had enough friends and bets to keep him busy for the most part. But sometimes, when he allowed himself an afternoon to himself, which he very seldom did, or while he was lying with a sleeping woman in his arms, he'd realize that he wasn't as happy as he thought he should be. He'd realize that he missed his normal life before he became an escort and he'd realize that the woman in his arms was a stranger and that he had only ever wanted one woman in his arms. But that woman would never lie in his arms, not tonight, not ever. He'd lost hope in her a long time ago, just like he'd lost hope in himself a long time ago. He was nothing; he was an act for whoever he needed to please that day. The only person he hadn't lost hope in, was an old friend of his, a boy who he hoped had ended up with everything the brunette had ever wanted.

_**Xion**_

She liked doing her deals behind the old church. She found it bitterly ironic that a drug deal could occur behind one of the most holy placed around. All her responses would ever be to requests would be 'meet me behind the holy house'. In the back of her mind she knew it was wrong, and she knew that she shouldn't be doing this, but she really didn't have anything else to keep her fed and in an apartment. Even if she did wake up with enough energy to find a real job, all she had was a minor in English. That wouldn't get her very far, and she reminded herself of that every day with a sharp edged rock she scraped across her skin each morning. Xion had given up on the world while she was still in high school, but then she had friends, people she cared about, to keep her grounded. Now her head was up in the clouds and she hardly cared anymore. All she wanted now was for her friends to come back and save her, and try as she may to flush that hope out of her, she could never quite rid herself of it completely. And that both overjoyed her and infuriated her.

* * *

**Alright, I'm hoping you guys found that enjoyable to read, and I do hope you'll review for me or favorite or follow. Whatever you want to do. I hope you all have a wonderful day!**


	2. Chapter 1

**Hello all, I'm back. Thank you for the nice reviews on chapter one, I hope to continue to have people like this story! Without any further ado, let's continue!**

**Disclaimer: I do not own KH**

* * *

_"Step one, you say 'we need to talk' he walks, you say 'sit down, it's just a talk."_

_~The Fray 'How To Save a Life' _

_**Sora**_

Sora stepped off of his private jet the next morning, barely blinking at the sunrise beaming out over the island. He glanced over the low set houses and the sand, set afire by the orange rays of the sun. His plan was to meet with each of them, one by one, until the six of them were reunites again. The first person he would try to win back, and also the easiest to convince, he thought, was Naminé. He hadn't heard from the blonde girl in about three years, the last time being a Christmas card from her when they were sophmores in college. He waited for his assistants to bring him down his rolling suit case before striding down the runway and into the growing airport.

The brunette allowed his loose flannel shirt to blow in the wind and ignored the glances he received from multiple women when he first entered the airport. Sora made his way through the airport efficiently and quickly, and picked up his second bag from the baggage claim. After allowing his nervous looking assistant, Demyx, to call a cab, he sat in the back seat, glaring blankly at the ceiling of the vehicle, while Demyx chattered pointlessly with the driver. Sora turned his attention to the scenery that displayed itself on the other side of the car's window. The trees were the same, tall and shady, flowing along with the ocean breeze in a relaxed manner. He gazed at the occasional pedestrian passing by, observing how happy each one looked. Sora wondered if Naminé would look this happy. He hoped that she would.

The cab driver dropped them off at the address that Demyx had given him and Sora tentatively stepped out of the car while Demyx retrieved their bags from the trunk. Sora glanced over the house they had stopped in front of with a small, closed-mouth smile growing on his face. The house just screamed 'Naminé'. The small brick house stood quietly on the end of a suburban street, the front porch facing where the sun would set. A small tree bearing fruit stood to the left of her house and a leafy plant vined up the side of her house. He rolled his shoulders back and sauntered towards the front door with the confidence he had picked up well in the past years of him working with his company. But on the inside he was far from confident. Though he wouldn't admit it, he was the most nervous he'd ever been before pitching a deal to someone.

He told himself to calm down as he climbed the two steps up to her front door. He glanced around the porch, taking in the white lawn chair and the potted pink geranium next to it. He raised his fist and tentatively knocked on the door with two quick taps. The brunette took in a deep breath and rubbed his clammy hands together nervously. He glanced back to see Demyx carrying Sora's largest bag towards the front deck, the rest of their bags laying at the end of the driveway; the cab driver was driving back out of the neighborhood. As he watched Demyx he heard the front door open and a woman's high voice ask, "Hello? Oh…" Sora turned to glare into the hollow crystal eyes of Naminé. Her hair had grown out, it reached past her chest now, and her long bangs covered her forehead. She seemed skinnier than Sora had remembered, and she seemed even more breakable now. But what he kept focusing on was her face. While her face displayed no emotions, he felt as if he could stare into her eyes and be lost in a deep abyss of nothingness. They were empty blue spheres, that's all they were. Her eyes scanned quickly over him, before he helplessly watched them fill with tears as she burst into tears.

_**Kairi**_

The red head awoke with a start. She glanced around the room, taking in her surroundings, making sure that she had in fact been dreaming a few moments earlier. She exhaled a sigh of relief when she made sure that she had in fact only been dreaming. She looked to her left, and found the well build man that she had brought home with her last night still asleep under the sheets. She sighed again and ran her fingers through his long blonde hair. She allowed herself to frown as she lifted herself from the bed as quietly as she could. This poor man wasn't going to expect her to leave him in her own home. But one thing she found was that the morning after, she never could stay very long with any man. She just couldn't bring herself to lay or sit there and act like she genuinely enjoyed him when she knew that she never planned to sleep with him a second time.

And she hated herself for that. Every single time she did it she would tell herself that she would never do that again. She would never lie to another man again. But she always found herself doing it again, whether it be the next night or a week form then, she always found herself repeating her mistakes, though by now they were more so her awful choices than legitimate mistakes. So Kairi got up and dressed herself in what she considered modest clothing, this was what she did to make herself feel better about herself the morning after. She dressed in long Bermuda shorts and a pink T-shirt. After running a brush through her hair, she left a note for the man in her bad, telling him that she had gone to run errands, and thanked him for last night (a courtesy she said to all of her men, whether she meant it or not). Then, she left, and decided to go grocery shopping.

The one thing she did enjoy about her job was that she didn't have to go into work until late, so she had mornings and early afternoons to herself to do what she pleased. Whether it be take a walk, shop or just lay out on the beach that was only a few minutes' walk from her modest apartment, she normally found a way to distract herself from her unhappiness long enough to enjoy her days. Kairi let herself meander to the market slowly, taking time to observe all of the little shops and stores that were set up on every street on Destiny Island. She didn't make eye contact with anyone, but she allowed herself to glance at others briefly, just to observe other individuals. She passed through town as if she were in a dream. That thought brought her to a stop as she recalled the dream she'd had not an hour ago. To her surprise her eyes began to get misty and she blinked rapidly, willing them away. As ashamed as she was of her life, it couldn't compare to what would have happened if her dream were to ever come true. She had dreamt that Sora had come to see her, and that he had been disgusted by her. Kairi kept walking, and she didn't think about him for the rest of the day. She broke her promise that next night, and took a man home with her that reminded her of Sora.

_**Riku**_

Very similar to Kairi, Riku often awoke with a woman in his arms. They both knew that they would never see each other again, so they always would regard the other with a very distant air. But unlike Kairi, Riku never awoke feeling guilty and loathsome towards himself. He just woke up feeling empty, and occasionally angry, but never guilty. He'd banished that emotion long ago, as he felt that it only got in the way of how effectively he did his job. His friends had always openly talked about how he was the best at what he did, and that was what kept him confident and prideful, he worked hard to convince himself that he was capable of anything. He took bets often with his friends, and he won almost all of them.

Riku awoke one morning feeling particularly empty, and he left the woman's house that he awoke in quicker than usual. When he arrived at his home he called up his friends and quickly scheduled a drinking session for that evening. His friends were always up for a good time at the bars, no matter what they had going on later. That evening he arrived at the bar they had agreed on, and found his friends on the far end of the bar. He sat in the middle seat they had designated for him. Together there were five of them, Lexaeus, Zexion, Vexen, Marluxia and Riku. Marluxia and Zexion were escorts with Riku while Vexen and Lexaeus worked for an architectural company, Vexen designed the models of buildings and Lexaeus was responsible for getting the up and being structurally sound.

That evening, after a few drinks, while Marluxia and Riku were discussing their job calendar for the next months, Riku overheard Vexen talking to Zexion in a hushed tone, "-haven't tried it, but he kept asking me to, I wouldn't, of course, I'm above doing that, but he kept rambling on about the lady who gave it to him." Zexion stopped leaning his head on his fist and asked in an equally quite tone, "So where does this story get interesting, exactly?" Vexen muffled his laughter, and he said, "She told him that she'd deal it to him 'behind the holy house'." Zexion cracked a small smile of amusement. "Hey, what are you two talking about? You're acting like its some big secret." Riku asked. Vexen turned to him and said, "My cousin, you know, the strange one with the eye patch, Xigbar? He was telling me about some drug deal he got into." Riku raised his eyebrows while Marluxia rolled his eyes. "Did he do it? Go to the holy house, that is?" Zexion asked a touch louder than he'd been talking before.

"He sure did, he said she was all prettied up, too. Red lipstick and everything else, he said she almost looked like a hooker!" Vexen stopped to chuckle a bit before continuing, "He didn't try anything on her, she threatened to kill him if he so much as shook her hand, but anyways, he kept going on about how god-damn 'pretty' she was." Vexen snorted and Marluxia rolled his eyes again, "I got the full details about her, too, she had pale skin, he said she looked like a ghost, and she this short black hair, just below her chin, and he couldn't stop going on about her eyes! He kept talking about how bright blue they were and how damned pretty they were." Riku had stopped listening after Vexen described the girl; his heart was beating too fast for him to hear over it. After he got his heart rate to slow down, he mentally tuned back into the conversation, Vexen had been talking, "…so naturally I told him he was an idiot-" "What was her name?" Riku asked. The four men turned to stare at him, noticing the change in his voice. "Eh, well, she wouldn't tell him, she was very secretive, he just called her Poppet." Vexen answered after a moment of silence.

Riku didn't stay for long after that. He excused himself to walk back to his apartment. As soon as he got home, he pulled out his laptop and bought the first ticket to Twilight Town that he could. He knew that then woman Vexen had been talking about was Xion, and he was going to go find her.

* * *

**Well, I hope you all enjoyed this chapter, and I hope you all decide to review/ favorite/ etc. I hope everyone has a great rest of their summer, have a lovely day!**

**Special thanks to: Guest, StrangelyQuietAndAlarminglyShy, Light-Sakura, and IDontHaveANameDude. Thanks for reviewing, guys!**


	3. Chapter 2

**Hello, all, I apologize for the wait on this chapter, with school starting my spare time has really been cut in half, but no worries, I'm still working on this story. Please enjoy!**

**Disclaimer: I do not own KH**

* * *

_"She had managed to appear utterly independent when she was, in fact, desperately in need of company."_

_~ Paulo Coelho, "Veronika Decides to Die"_

_**Roxas**_

On a particularly warm spring morning Roxas awoke to a very disturbing sight. His eyes fluttered open to meet four pairs of eyes examining him with a mixture of worry and amusement. He propped himself up on his elbows and the four faces moved back about an inch. He squinted his eyes as the lights gave him a searing headache. The blonde carefully moved him legs and noticed he was sprawled out on a carpeted floor. Roxas groaned and blinked rapidly before glaring up at the four individuals above him. He recognized three of them. "Axel, what are you doing?" he conjured up enough focus to ask. His tongue felt heavy and he noted that this was one of the worst hangovers he'd ever experienced.

His red haired friend gave a nervous chuckle and replied, "I'm worrying about you, Champ. Tidus and I lost ya last night and we couldn't find you for a few hours. Where did you go?" Roxas turned to the right and glanced at Tidus, who shared the same inquisitive glance as Axel. He thought back to the previous night, but try as he may, he only remembered up to Axel handing him a cup of beer. Anything after that was a black abyss. Roxas raised his eyebrows, shook his head, and said, "I don't remember anything after you handing me that cup of beer, man." Axel glanced and Tidus, Larxene and the forth girl that Roxas didn't recognize and asked Roxas, "So you don't know how you ended up in Aqua's house?" Roxas glanced at the girl with blue hair and vaguely recognized her now; he thought she was a second cousin of Axel's or something that he'd met once or twice before.

Roxas scratched the side of his head, trying to remember how he had ended up on Aqua's floor, but he still couldn't recall anything else. He simply shook his head and glanced around at "prompted, to which Roxas shook his head in response to. Axel sighed and backed away from the blonde, and the other three did the same. "Did I hurt anything?" Roxas questioned as he rubbed his eyes. He heard Tidus snort and Axel answered, "Not that we know of. Come on, bud, get up, let's get you home." Axel extended his hand, which Roxas took, and propped the blonde up, under his arm. Roxas ignored Aqua's glances as he exited the house with his four friends and quietly laid in the back seat of Axel's pick-up truck and tried to ignore Larxene bickering with Axel in the front seat. He closed his eyes and let himself drift off again.

* * *

"Hey, come on, bud, let's get you to my couch," Roxas heard Axel's voice call and he simply complied and blindly walked into Axel's tiny apartment and crashed onto the patchy sofa and rolled into the worn in furniture, grateful for its comfort. As Roxas tried to fall back asleep, he heard Tidus ask Axel, "For real, man, you don't have any idea where he was?" in a hushed tone. There was a slight pause and then, "Aqua said that when he first stumbled in he was a mess, bawling all over himself, he tried to punch a few holes in her wall. She couldn't tell if he was really hurt about something or just pissed, but she tried to calm him down and the bastard tried to kiss her, she said he kept mumbling something about her watching over him." Axel paused for a moment and Tidus snorted and muttered "Jesus Christ," under his breath. Axel continued, "Then she told me he just wandered around her kitchen and living room for another hour or so, before he passed out on her floor. She let the kid sleep there for the rest of the night, she said he worried her and didn't want to bother him, "Axel scoffed and the sound of ice falling into a glass could be heard. "So he just paced in her house for an hour?" Tidus questioned evident curiosity in strung in his voice.

There was another pause, the sound of someone sipping something, and then Axel said in a constricted voice, "He was mumbling something, she said she couldn't figure out what he was saying for the first twenty minutes he was there, but she finally figured out he was saying a name. Some chick, I've never heard of her, but she said he seemed awfully upset about her." "What was her name?" Tidus inquired, a hint of urgency laced in his tone. "Naminé," was Axel's response. Roxas bit the inside of his cheek so hard that he felt blood ooze in his mouth.

_**Xion**_

In April she awoke from her winter hibernation with a strange and almost alarming feeling in the pit of her chest that came every spring right when the weather got warm- she felt happiness. Xion blinked several times and sat up on her inflatable mattress. She watched her surroundings closely, and when she realized that she was in a small shed she hopped up quickly and opened the door to the shed carefully. She was in the backyard of old man Yen-Sid's place. She let herself relax slightly and deflated her mattress and gargled her mouth with the last of her mouthwash. She wrote a mental note to buy more later and packed her things in her brown duffle bag. Once her mattress was completely depleted of air she rolled it up and stuffed it into her bag and zipped it tightly. Before she left the shed she tossed a few pills into her mouth and swallowed them dry. Hopefully it would ease the ache in her head and limbs. She felt almost instant relief. Xion made her way out of the shed and around to the front door of old man Yen-Sid's place. As she knocked on the door and waited, she glanced around her, and found that the sun was nearing the middle of the sky, it was either just before or after noon, she couldn't decide.

The glass door to the large house opened and Yen-Sid stood on the other side of the threshold, clad in a long purple robe, billowing in the breeze finding its way into his house. "Xion." He acknowledged her with a polite nod and she made herself smile pleasantly at the man. "Good morning, Yen-Sid. Or should I say afternoon, I'm not quite sure which one it is…" she trailed off and he gazed out at the sky and said, "Xion, why don't you come inside for a moment." She gladly complied, normally this meant food and a semi-enlightening discussion when Yen-Sid invited her into his home.

After she was situated on his couch and he stared at her from a master chair across the room from her as she wolfed down tiny sandwiches he sighed and told her, "Xion, I've grown increasingly worried about you." She stopped mid-chew, raised her head, and raised one eyebrow, silently inquiring what he meant. "I've seen you with a few men after dark, Xion, and quite frankly, it worries me." He started, and her heart took off a thousand miles an hour. "I'm not going to pretend to know what you're doing with those men or why, but It gives me a bad feeling, I don't want to see anything horrific happen to you." He said as he stroked his beard, "If you wanted to I would let you stay at my house, you know I have a spare room always open, of course, and I'd feel much better if I knew you were safe in here than who knows what out there." She let out a puff of breath and told him quickly, "I'm sorry to have worried you, Yen-Sid, but those men are people I meet with to go play poker with some nights. One of them is my cousin, I'm perfectly safe with them, trust me." She gave him her best smile as she mentally criticized herself as she knew everything that just came out of her mouth was a lie.

"Are you sure? Know that my doors are always open." He said, a crease developing in the middle of his brow. "I'm very sure though, but I appreciate that very much, thank you, Yen-Sid." She said, and the last part she did really mean. The old man's concern was the only concern that she had. He nodded and picked up his cup of tea again. An hour later Xion left and returned to the shed, of which Yen-Sid did not know she was staying in. Before she let herself go to the grocery store for more cough syrup and mouthwash she pulled out a sharp edged stone and punished herself for lying to Yen-Sid. She wrapped a bandage around her middle once she was through and carried on with her day like normal. Her happiness she had awoken with had vanished.

* * *

**Well, I apologize for the short length of this chapter, I'll get better, I promise, but nevertheless I hope you all enjoyed this chapter, and I hope you with review, favorite, etc.**

**Special thanks to: IDontHaveANameDude, SummonerDagger88, and Light-Sakura, thank so much for reviewing!**


	4. Chapter 3

**Hello everybody! I am so happy to be writing another chapter for you all! I hope you guys like this chapter very much, as I am having a wonderful time writing it all, please read on and enjoy!**

**Disclaimer: I do not own Kingdom Hearts.**

* * *

"_Don't ever tell anybody anything. If you do, you start missing everybody."_

_~ J.D. Salinger 'The Catcher in the Rye'_

_**Naminé**_

Naminé remembered the last time she had seen Sora. It was now over five years ago. It was sad, but she had begun to let his features fade from her mind. His nose and the lines around his mouth had begun to slip from her memory, and she hated herself for that. Of course, a small part of her hated him and the rest of her so-called friends from her childhood that never came for her though. And that part of her consciousness was getting in the way of her doing anything other than cry.

She couldn't recall the last time she has cried in front of another person. She thought that it may have been the night that the man standing in front of her left Twilight Town five years prior. It both shocked and saddened her that she hadn't shed tears in front of another human being in so long. But, she knew that it was necessary not to. Tears would not get the blonde anywhere. So she let herself wind down, collected herself, and blinked at the now shocked brunette on her doorstep.

"Could you excuse me for just a moment?" She pardoned herself, and didn't wait for a response, instead she shut the door on her old friend and grabbed the nearest box of tissues she could locate, and allowed herself to cry a bit more before calling in and excusing herself from work that day. She knew she would not be able to handle herself all day around the children after something like this. She wiped her eyes, blew her nose, and then reopened the door to find a very worried looking Sora standing beside a taller man with a fohawk, carrying an obscene amount of luggage.

She took a deep breath and finally said, "Hello, Sora." The brunette blinked and glanced at her with shock. He opened his mouth, and then closed it. Naminé waited patiently for him to collect himself, and he did so eventually, and replied, "Hello, Naminé." She almost started crying again when she heard his voice. His voice was something that she never could forget. And just as always, his voice gave her a sense of peace that she hadn't felt in five long years. Almost at peace, that was. She was still apprehensive as to why he was at her doorstep, she still wanted to give him a piece of her mind for not coming sooner, but the biggest reason she was not totally at peace, was because she had been waiting for a different man to save her. But he wasn't the one on her front porch right now. It was Sora, it wasn't a blonde-haired, blue eyed dream in front of her, it was a brunette reality. The blonde dream wasn't coming yet.

"What are you doing here?" she whispered, clutching the doorpost tightly. Sora didn't answer right away, he glanced around her front porch, and out across her lawn, and finally back at her. "I've come here because I need you…In fact, I need everyone. Can I come in, please?" Needless to say, she let him in.

_**Roxas**_

When Roxas awoke the next time on Axel's couch, his mind was replaying one word over and over again, like a big light-up display from Vegas, alive in his head. _'Naminé'_ across every billboard and show sign in his mind. He sat up, and much to his relief, his headache had improved tremendously. The word _Naminé_ kept scrolling in and out of his head as he stood and glanced around his friend's house. He found it odd that everything was so calm when there was such chaos behind his eyes. He heard Axel's voice humming the tune to 'We Will Rock You' in the next room and he slowly stood, swore as his back popped in several places, and followed the humming into Axel's bedroom.

"Hey man, thanks for letting me crash here this morning." Roxas thanked his friend quickly and turned to leave. "Yeah…sure, anytime" he heard Axel hesitantly reply. The blonde continued through the living room and started to put his shoes on, blinking away the images of the blonde haired angel. When at last he had tied his shoes on and was opening the door to leave, he heard his friend call behind him, "Hey, Roxas?" Roxas paused and turned his head back to glance at Axel. "If you need anything, anything at all, you know you can always call me, got it memorized?" Roxas allowed his shoulders to drop a half an inch and slowly nodded, "Yeah, thank you, Axel."

Roxas turned again to leave when Axel continued, "If something's up with a girl you know I can-" "Goodnight, Axel." Roxas interrupted, and didn't wait for a response before shutting the door behind him. He walked the entire eight blocks to his house, slumped onto his bed and settled into a dreamless sleep.

* * *

He had a job, at the moment, but if he slept a moment longer he wouldn't have one. He sat up, groaned at the many cracks in his joints and stiff muscles he had gained from his slumber, and hastily got ready for his seven hour shift at the graveyard. He and Axel worked the same shifts 90% of the time, and Roxas groaned when he realized that Axel would probably pester him non-stop until he said something about…her.

Roxas did not allow himself to think of her again until he had parked in the cemetery parking lot. Why was it that after nearly three years of successfully keeping thoughts of her at bay did he suddenly begin to think of her? What had his alcohol-drowned brain conjure up the past night that caused him to bring her up? He'd stopped thinking of her years ago, and he wasn't planning on making himself miserable about her again. The first time had been enough. He couldn't stand it if he made himself sick and worried over her again. This time it would kill him for sure.

Roxas spotted Axel across the parking lot and he got out of his car and followed the red head into the front office. "Hey, buddy, how ya doing?" Axel greeted as he clocked in. Roxas shrugged and clocked in behind Axel. The two sauntered out into the sea of gravestones in silence that to Roxas' surprise bothered him more than silences normally did. Of course, he and Axel both knew that there was something behind the silence, and that something was a beautiful woman who had made him miserable for six years.

"Hey, Roxas? You don't have to give me some long speech about this chick, but I mean, can I at least get a hint?" Axel finally asked. Roxas sighed, he ran a hand through his disheveled hair and considered whether it would be better to just tell Axel everything or not. After another moment of thought he decided that he'd only tell a piece of the truth, "Okay, I'll tell you, but you can't flip out on me."

_**Riku**_

When Riku declared so much time off the next day at work Marluxia and Zexion questioned him relentlessly that night, "But why are you leaving so suddenly?" Zexion inquired, raising an eyebrow. The three were walking abreast, down the wide hallway that lead into the restaurant below the billiard hall they had been in. "And why for so long?" Marluxia added, giving the silver-haired man a hard stare. Riku didn't respond, instead he held his jaw shut and strong, and pushed open the doors to the restaurant with ease.

Zexion and Marluxia were silent for a moment while they were seated, but as soon as their waiter left, Marluxia snapped, "You know, if it's about that washed-up chick that Vexen was talking about you can tell us, it's not like it's some big damn secret that we didn't already know." Riku was taken aback by his coworker, and he scowled at the hair salon-dyed pink hairs of his and raised one eyebrow, "It's not. I don't know that woman, she's a drug dealer, and by Vexen's word she sounds like she's in the wrong crowd. I'm not going to fish her out of that just because she sounds pretty." The waiter set down their drinks and Riku took a sip of his beer while Zexion continued, "Riku, don't be stupid, we all saw how you reacted to Vexen last night, who is she?"

Riku glanced at the two, inwardly throwing offensive words at them while he decided what to tell them. He decided he'd be honest-to a point that is. "I think I might know her. An old friend from my old town, I just want to make sure her life isn't a complete train wreck, and then I'll come back." The two men sitting across from Riku shared twin glances and finally Marluxia said "Alright, fine. Just, call us if you need anything while you're away."

The next day Riku was boarding a plane to Twilight Town.

* * *

**Well now, I hope you all enjoyed this chapter a lot, and I'm hoping that you will stick around for the next chapter as well. In the mean time you should review/favorite/etc. Have a wonderful day, all!**

**Special thanks to: Light-Sakura, Guest, and Guest number 2, thanks for reviewing guys!**


	5. Chapter 4

**Sorry folks for the wait, I didn't intend on that happening but my motivation flew out the window and it's still not that back, but that's okay, I just want to write something for you guys. So I hope you enjoy it!**

**Disclaimer: Don't own KH**

'_Not all those who wander are lost'_

_~The Lord of the Rings_

* * *

_**Xion**_

Nearly four years ago, she had met a man of intimidating stature that had introduced her into the world of which she now lived- that of dealing and collecting. In those four years she had never completely grown comfortable around him whenever she saw him, and she would often bring with her a knife when she knew she would see him, and shoved it in her left boot as a precaution. His name was Xaldin, and he was not a man to be taken lightly. The man had come to her in the night, around a year after she had arrived in the city, and he had demanded things from her that she did not have. When she explained to him that she did not have any drugs, he offered to show her a new world of enlightenment that she would not regret discovering.

The raven haired college student, after struggling for months with bills, school, and feeling happy, hesitantly took the pills the man handed her. The next morning she awoke confused, with an empty wallet and half naked in a bed that she did not recognize. It terrified her to the point that she left in a hurry, locked herself in her apartment, and did not eat for three days. She did not return to school for a week, and barely avoided failing her classes. She only stayed in school long enough to acquire a minor in English. But before her time in school was up, she returned to the world that she had experienced on the terrifying night. A man with blonde hair by the name of Luxord met her when she was hurrying home one night from a party. Unlike Xaldin, he sat with her on a bench near a closed shop and talked with her. He explained to her that he was waiting for a 'package' from a friend, and when she unsuspectingly asked if he was waiting for the pills that she had tried; he looked at her like she was a friend.

Luxord brought her to his house, and explained to her that if she could sell those wonderful little pills to his friends, she would get money. She could in turn use that money to get herself any kind of those pills, or any array of other things he told her about. Xion was not stupid; she had gone to grade school and heard all about the dangers of drugs. She was also now aware of how vulnerable drugs leave you. But she vowed to tame the pills; she would learn to handle herself when she took them, and in turn never be left in the position that Xaldin had left her in. She had agreed to take the pills again, but not before she made him promise to protect her from someone.

When Luxord asked her who it was, she told him a man by the name of Xaldin. At the mention of his name, Luxord's eyes darkened and his voice lowered, even though they were the only two in the house. He explained that Xaldin dealt most of the drugs in the area, and he was not a man to be trifled with. She didn't tell Luxord about the night that Xaldin had given her pills, but she simply told him that he had scared her once. He nodded and told her to stick with him. After that night she never went out at night with her college friends. She stuck with Luxord, who quickly became her only friend. Throughout the next three years they bought and sold those magic pills, along with an assortment of other substances that took Xion off to another planet. They ran into Xaldin sometimes, and she met others who headed many of the exchanges that happened, all of which frightened her, and she stuck to only speaking when spoken to, unless it was Luxord, of course. She flew through her life as if she were sailing through a blur of endless late nights, classes, and emptiness. Before long, she forgot what it was like to be happy all together.

* * *

The day after she met with Yen Sid, Xion awoke at the crack of dawn after being up with clients for most of the night selling and then collecting her own goods. She scowled and wondered why she was awake so early when she'd barely gotten any sleep. One look out the window of the church she had been sleeping in told her why; there was a thunderstorm raging outside. The sky was coated with thick clouds that rushed at the rising sun and covered it in a matter of minutes. It was soon just as dark as it had been the past night. Before the rain started Xion huddled up on one of the pews, holding her blanket close to her body. She shivered as the first strike of lightning beamed across the sky.

Contrary to many of her old friends, she found the sounds of a thunder storm quite calming, and let the sounds of thunder and sheets of rain to comfort her and pull her back to sleep. Or at least, almost to sleep. Just as she was about to float off into a dream, she felt a hand clasp her shoulder lightly and she jerked into consciousness and sat up with a start.

"I'm sorry, ma'am, I didn't need to frighten you." A voice said, and she groggily glanced up at him. Xion immediately did a double take, widened her eyes, and yelped. She jumped back and slapped her hand over her mouth. The man standing in front of her looked exactly like Roxas. The Roxas look-alike raised an eyebrow and held his hands up, "I'm not going to hurt you, I promise!" While she immediately disbelieved that comment, she shook her head and mumbled, "I'm sorry, I'm just…you look like someone I know." He nodded slowly, and hesitantly sat next to her, leaving a good foot of room in between them. "That's fine…don't you have a place to sleep other than here?" he questioned. She shook her head and didn't say anything, instead she pulled her blanket closer to her face and closed her eyes. "Wait, don't go back to sleep yet!" he exclaimed, and she lifted one eyelid.

"What's your name?" he asked quietly. Xion held her breath for a few seconds, before she answered, "I'm nobody." He glanced at her blanket, the duffle bag holding her possessions on the floor, and then back to her face, "I'm Ventus. My friends call me Ven, though." The woman blinked, not sure why he was telling her his name. He kept talking, "If you need a place to stay you can stay at my house. I mean, I can't let you stay here forever." She glanced around him, and noticed for the first time a janitor's cart behind him in the aisle. "Will you're pastor kick me out of the Holy House if I stay?" Xion asked bitterly. He didn't respond right away, in fact, he stood, and she thought he would leave her there. But just as she was sure he'd turn away, he explained, "You can come with me if you want, you can crash in my guest bed until you want to leave, or you can stay and be asked again to leave in a few hours by someone else."

Xion blinked again and thought through her options. She decided that she would sleep for the day at the blonde's house and leave that night, whether or not the weather permitted it or not. She stood slowly and picked up her duffle bag of clothes. "That's what I thought." He said, and she followed him through the down pour of rain to a small house about a block away. Ventus lead her into a cramped room that held a bed and dresser. She waited until he left before she pulled out a bottle of water, one of her pills, swallowed it, and fell into bed, and slept soundly.

_**Kairi**_

Before Kairi went to sleep that night she lay in bed and prayed to whatever deity was up there that she could be done with life. While she'd been working that night she noticed that all of the men watching her looked upon her with a certain degree of greed in their eyes. And for some unknown reason she found it incredibly unnerving, and she had almost frozen on stage. But she hadn't, and she'd barely finished her dance without crying. Once she got off stage the only thing that flashed behind her blue eyes were the looks of those men. Throughout all of her career as an exotic dancer that look had never bothered her, she had never let that glimmer in those men's eyes get to her. But something inside of her had changed, and she found that look horrifying, and she wanted nothing more than to cry and scream at them to stop looking at her.

Kairi made her way to the bathroom, tears collecting at the corners of her eyes and spilling sloppily onto her rosy cheeks. Once she reached her destination, she bent down, and shoved two fingers into the back of her throat, and the contents of her dinner reappeared in the porcelain bowl. She washed her mouth out with the sink water, and then told her manager, by that time full on sobbing, that she had just gotten sick in the bathroom. She was sent home without another question.

The red head dreaded the thought of work the next day, and she choked back a sob so that she would not burst into hysterics again like she had while driving home. She did not know what she would do, and she didn't really know what on earth she was going to do when she had to see that look in a new crowd's eyes tomorrow. What was wrong with her? All throughout high school she had loved it when boys had looked at her, in college, too. When boys would stare at her as she danced, even when she moved to work in the club, it had never bothered her to the extent that it had that night. Was she going crazy? Was she finally experiencing karma for everything bad she had ever done? There were no answers, and she let her hands fall over her face and she began weeping again, while the city went on around her, oblivious to her sobs.

_**Roxas**_

"Roxas, you have to go find her." Axel exclaimed once Roxas had finished telling Axel about Naminé. Roxas immediately shook his head and snapped, "No, you don't understand, she's gone now, she hasn't contacted me in three years, and even when we were friends, she wasn't interested!" Axel scowled at his shorter friend, and crouched against a large gravestone. "Did you ever ask her? I mean, did she ever tell you yes or no?" the red head asked. Roxas groaned, "NO, but that's not the point-" "Roxas, that is the point! You never asked her, and she never confirmed or denied your feelings. Listen, sport, you've gotta go after this lady friend of yours and get her back." Axel interrupted. The blonde frowned, "But axel, I don't even know if she's still on the islands! And if she is, what if she's dating a guy, or married?! What the hell am I supposed to do then?" The taller man replied, "Hey, chill out, buddy. What if she's single, huh? What if you never figure that out because you were too damn scared of talking to her?"

Roxas thought this through for a moment, and finally told his friend, "I'll think about it."

* * *

**Well I certainly hope you enjoyed this chapter, and I do hope you'll all forgive me for being so late with this chapter. As always, review, favorite, etc. and have a wonderful day.**

**Special thanks to Light-Sakura and Tagabasa, thanks for reviewing guys!**


End file.
